CAUSE has released the User Guide: An Open-Access Occupancy Evaluation Framework and Tool for K-12 Schools (Version 1.0, August 1, 2025)—a practical, research-grounded resource for educators, designers, and district partners committed to measuring how school environments shape teaching and learning. Published under a Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license, the guide invites schools and project teams to download, adapt, and share methods freely while keeping results open for others to build upon.

The guide operationalized a 5-part POE framework and, in this first public release, prioritized Chapter 2: Human/Building Interactions and Chapter 3: Human Outcomes with survey instruments for grades 3–12. These instruments capture perceptions of sensory experience and pedagogy support, and core outcomes linked to success in school—belonging, engagement, self-regulation, plus teacher efficacy and job satisfaction. Forthcoming chapters will expand the toolbox with Spatial Characteristics and Building Outcomes to align user perceptions with measurable environmental performance.

The User Guide reflects a coalition effort. CAUSE convenes architecture firms, academic partners, school districts, and CADRE, guided by three advisory committees (school design, design research, education policy). Founding authors (alphabetical) include Erika S. Eitland, ScD, MPH (Perkins&Will); Raechel French, PhD; Renae Mantooth, PhD (HKS; NC State); Michael C. Ralph, PhD (Multistudio; University of Kansas); and Alexandra Rett, PhD.

What this means for schools and design teams: a standardized, comparable approach to POE that lowers the barrier to credible data collection, enables study-to-study comparison across sites and time—turning one project’s lessons into sector-wide evidence.

Explore the guide and pilot the surveys to strengthen the shared evidence base. Access tools, codebooks, and release notes at CAUSECoalition.org.